ELEMENT MASQUANT

MASKING MEMBER

Abrégé anglais

A NEW MASKING MEMBER
ABSTRACT OF THE DISCLOSURE
A new masking member comprising a panel of plastic
foam; grooves are formed in a proper position on a side or
both sides thereof, an adhesive layer formed on a side of
said panel, and a release sheet which covers said adhesive
layer; is presented. When said masking member is used,
said release sheet is removed from said adhesive layer and
said masking member is torn along said grooves by hand to
a piece having a size corresponding with a part of an
article which is necessary to be protected from a surface
treatment. Said piece is attached to said part to protect
from the surface treatment by the adhesive layer thereof.

Revendications

Claims:
1. A masking member for use in a spray coating
process comprising:
(a) a molded foamed polystyrene panel;
(b) a layer of adhesive located on one side of said
panel;
(c) a release sheet covering said adhesive layer;
and
(d) a plurality of grooves located on at least one
side of said panel, wherein said panel can be broken
along said grooves to produce individual masking
members.
2. A masking member of claim 1, wherein said foamed
polystyrene panel is provided with grooves on both sides,
said grooves being directly opposite each other.
3. A masking member of claim 1, wherein a primer
layer is provided between said panel and said adhesive
layer to prevent said adhesive from soaking into said
panel.
4. A masking member of claim 1, wherein said
release sheet is provided with a plurality of cutting
lines aligned with said grooves.
5. A masking member of claim 4, wherein said
cutting lines are continuous lines.
6. A masking member of claim 4, wherein said
cutting lines are discontinuous lines.
7. A masking member of claim 1, 3 or 4, wherein
said masking member is used to mask a portion of an
article in said spray coating process.
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Description

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A NEW MASKING MEMBER
FIELD OF THE INVENTION
The instant invention relates to a new masking
member used to protect a part of an article from a surface
treatment. More particularly, the instant invention
relates to a new masking member comprising a panel of
plastic foam; grooves are formed in the proper position of
a side or both sides thereof, an adhesive layer formed on
a side of said panel, and a release sheet which covers
said adhesive layer.
DESCRIPTION OF THE PRIOR ART
.
Hitherto, adhesive tapes have been used as a masking
member to protect a part of an article from a surface
treatment, such as coating, plating, phosphatizing and the
like. Namely, the adhesive tapes are attached to a part
of an article to protect from the surface treatment and
after the surface treatment, said adhesive tapes are
: 15 removed from the part of the article. Said part is not
affected by said surface treatment since said part was
covered with the adhesive tapes during the surface treatment.
Nevertheless, said adhesive tapes as the masking
member has faults that in case that the part to be
protected from the surface treatment is wide, it is

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troublesome to attach the adhesive tapes to the part to be
protected and remove said adhesive tapes from said part
since a number of strips of adhesive tapes must be
attached to said part to cover the whole part, and
further, in the case that adhesive tapes are subjected to
heat, said adhesive tapes stick to the part due to heating
and the stripping of said adhesive tapes becomes very
difficult.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
Accordingly, an object of the instant invention
is to save trouble when the masking member is attached/
removed to/from said part.
In accordance with one aspect of the invention
there is provided a masking member for use in a spray
coating process comprising: (a) a molded foamed
polystyrene panel; (b) a layer of adhesive located on
one side of said panel; (c) a release sheet covering
said adhesive layer; and (d) a plurality of grooves
located on at least one side of said panel, wherein said
panel can be broken along said grooves to produce
individual masking members.
A further object of the instant invention is to
prevent the adhesive layer from soaking in the panel
since the panel consists of polystyrene foam. Said
object of the instant invention can be attained by a
primer layer being
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an intermediate between the panel and the adhesive layer.
Still a further object of the instant invention is
to easily cut said masking member to a piece having a
proper size corresponding with a part of an article which
is necessary to be protected from a surface treatment.
Said object of the instant invention can be attained by
putting cutting lines in the release sheet.
BRIEF DESCRIPTIONS OF THE DRAWINGS
Fig. 1 is a partial perspective view of a first
embodiment of the instant invention.
Fig. 2 is a partial side sectional view of a first
embodiment of the instant invention.
.
Fig. 3 is a partial perspective view of a first
embodiment of the instant invention in the case of coating.
Fig. 4 is a partial perspective view of a first
embodiment of the instant invention in the case of removing
the masking member from the article.
Fig. 5 is a partial perspective view of a second
embodiment of the instant invention.
Fig. 6 is partial side sectional view of a second
embodiment of the instant invention.
Fig. 7 is a partial perspective view of a third
embodiment of the instant invention.

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Fig. 8 is a partial side sectional view of a third
embodiment of the instant invention.
Fig. 9 is a perspective view of the piece of the
third embodiment.
Fig. 10 is a plane view of another embodiment of
the release sheet having cutting lines.
Fig. 11 is a plane view of further embodiment of
the release sheet having cutting lines.
DETAILED DESCRIPTION
Figure 1 to Figure 4 relate to a first embodiment
of the instant invention.
Reffering now to Fig. 1 to Fig. 4, a masking
member (100) comprises comprises a panel (101) consisting
plastic foam, such as polystyrene foam, polyethylene foam,
polypropylene foam, polymethacrylate foam and the like.
Checker grooves (102) are formed at regular intervals on
both sides of said panel (101), and an adhesive layer (103)
is formed on a side of said panel (101). Said adhesive
layer (103) is covered with a release sheet (104) such as
a polyethylene film, a polypropylene film, a release paper,
and the like to prevent sticking to another article, hands
of workers, and the like when the masking members are
handled; one placed upon another, transported, and the
like. Said panel (101) of the masking member (100) may be

produced by expansion molding, cutting out from blocks of
plastic foam and grooves of the masking members of the
instant invention may include cutting lines. Said grooves
may be formed when the panel is molded or by cutting after
the panel is molded or cut out.
When the masking member (100) is used, the release
sheet (104) is removed from the adhesive layer (103) and
the panel (101) is torn long the grooves by hand to a piece
(lOlA) having the proper size corresponding with a part
(201) of an article (200) which is necessary to be
protected from a surface treatment such as coating, plating,
phosphatizing and the like. The resulting piece (lOlA) is
then attached to said part (201) of an article (200) by
the adhesive layer (103) thereof as shown in Fig. 3.
In the case of coating, paint is sprayed from a
spray gun (300) on the surface of the article (200). The
part (201) of an article (200) is not subjected to said
coating since said part (201) is covered with the piece
(lOlA) of the masking member (100). After coating, said
coated article (200) is heated to dry and/or cure if
desired. After or before said heating, the piece (lOlA)
is stripped by a hook (400) as shown in Fig. 4 or by hand
or in case that the heating temperature is higher enough
than the softening point of plastic as the material of
the panel (101), the plece (lOlA) will shrink by said
heating and come off by itself from the part (201) of the
article (200).

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Flgure 5 and Figure 6 relate to the second embodiment
of the instant invention.
Referring now to Fig. 5 and Fig. 6, a masking
member (110) comprises a panel (111) consisting of
plastic foam, the same as the first embodiment and grooves
(112), the same as the first embodiment are formed on
both sides of said panel (111). A primer layer (115) is
formed on a side of the panel (111) and an adhesive layer
(113) is formed on said primer layer (115). Said adhesive
layer (113) is covered with a release sheet (114), the
same as the first embodiment. Said primer layer (115)
prevents the adhesive layer (113) soaking in the panel
(111) since the panel (111) consists of the plastic foam
and the surface of the panel (111) is porous, and said
primer layer (115? is formed by laminating the film of
plastic such as, polyethylene, polypropylene, vinylacetate-
ethylene copolymer, polyvinylchloride and the like by
heating or adhesive, or by coating with an emulsion or a
solution of the synthetic resin such as acrylic resin,
polyvinyl acetate resin, polyethylene, polypropylene,
vinyl acetate-ethylene copolymer and the like on a side of
the panel (111). Further, the skin layer formed on the
surface of the panel (lll),in case that said panel (111)
is produced by the expansion molding, may also be used as
the primer layer (115).
Figure 7 to Figure 9 relate to the third embodiment
of the instant invention.

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Referring now to Fig. 7 to Fig. 9, a masking member
(120) comprises a panel (121) consisting of plastic foam,
the same as the first and second embodiments and grooves
(122), the same as the first and second embodiment, are
formed on both sides of said panel (121). An adhesive
layer (123) is formed on a side of the panel (121) and
said adhesive layer (123) is covered with a release sheet
(124). Cutting lines (124A) along the grooves (122) of
the panel (121) are formed in the release sheet (124).
When the masking member (120) is used, the panel
(121) is torn along the grooves (122) by hand to a piece
(12lA) having a size corresponding with a part of an
article and at the same time, the release sheet (124) is
easily torn along the cutting lines (124A). Said cutting
lines may include perforated lines (124B) as shown in Fig.
10 and discontinuous lines (124C) in Fig. 11.
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